Wednesday, April 18, 2007

When “Bad” things happen…

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corin 5:8


On Sunday morning one our family members lost their only child, a young man lost his life. For 3 days I have been trying to figure out what to put on paper. I don’t know that words can capture grief fully. It’s indescribable the pain that one feels when you lose someone. You remember who they were, the way they laughed or smiled or made jokes all the time. Reconciling that you will only have the memory of them now won’t seem to register.

I have been wondering what they must be going through to lose a child. A child that they had to stand on the word to have in the first place. When everyone else was having children easily and in abundance, this couple was struggling to have even one child. But their prayers were finally answered and 27 years ago they finally had the child they had been waiting for. And now, too soon he is gone. What started out as a prayer request for healing and delivery ended in loss. I am just stunned because it never occurred to me that he wouldn’t make a full recovery after an accident.

I wondered what his last moments of life were like, what he thought of. Not in a morbid kind of way, but I wondered if he had been happy or satisfied with the way that his life was going. He was enjoying success in his chosen career path, had just purchased a new home and was dating someone new. You wonder about those kinds of things. Especially if you hadn’t had a conversation with them since you last saw them 6 months ago. I wasn’t incredibly close to him but he was someone's child and as a mother, it tugs on you because I remember what it felt like when any of my children got their first set of shots or when they fell from running and had scraped knees. Their pain was my pain. Physical or emotional, it made no difference. I felt it. So I have been continually praying for his parents. I simply can’t imagine, nor am I trying to.

One thing that this has impressed upon me is that life is incredibly precious and short. Even if you live 70-120 years its still too short to waste time, procrastinate about living the life that you want, or even keep waiting for things to change that you have been waiting on for too long! Most of the time we are waiting on every perfect condition to come to pass instead of living in the moment for this day and not days to come. It’s waste of time. I have decided to be present, enjoy every moment, and thank G-d continually for the blessings that every day is.

Be Blessed.
Chosen.

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